Update(1358ET):The Kremlin has responded toPresident Donald Trumps request that the lives of the Ukrainian troops encircled in Russias Kursk Region be spared, which was conveyed in a Friday Truth Social post by the president. Moscow says it is"sympathetic" to this request, and the pattern in the battle to retake Kursk has been to take POWs if weapons are laid down.
At the same time President Putin has called immediate surrender of all Ukrainian troops remaining on Russian soil. Trump had acknowledged thatthousands of Ukrainian troops"are"completely surrounded by the Russian military in the southwest Kursk region.
Putin said during a National Security Council meeting on Friday thatRussian forces guarantee their lives if they lay down their arms, according tostate mediatranslation:
Putin responded that he was aware of Trumps request, adding that Russia was willing to consider it.If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,the president said.
But Putin also emphasized thenumerous crimes against civiliansin the region, also has hundreds of thousands of citizens have fled over the last six months of the Kursk occupation on risky operation ordered by Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader has meanwhile rejected that he will cede territory in Ukraine for the sake of peace, and is demanding a'strong response' from the US. But clearly Trump's own words suggest he's not ready to order some kind of greater intervention on Kiev's behalf.
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President Trump has revealed Friday that he has held the second phone call of his current administration with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the prospect of ending the Ukraine war. The call, held Thursday, included a plea by Trump for Russia tospare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers currently surroundedin the Kursk region.Such a direct appeal like this by Trump is unprecedented.
"We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday" - Trump began a statement on Truth Social, before continuing, "and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end..."
That's when he stated in all caps,"But, at this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position."
"I havestrongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be ahorrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!" - Trump ended with.
Aside from the rare or even unprecedented nature of such a direct appeal from a sitting US President for Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, thisa first top-level US acknowledgement that Ukraine is rapidly losing in its cross-border Kursk operation.
Already as of Wednesday there were widespread reports thata Ukrainian withdrawal from Kurskis underway, and it's been confirmed that the key town ofSudzha has been taken back by Russian forces, along with well over a dozen towns and settlements in rapid fashion.
The amount of Russian territory the Ukrainians still hold there has suddenly shrunk at least four-fold, and by many accounts Russian operatives continue closing in. Even the Financial Times has admitted that the writing ison the wall:
Kyivs forces managed at one point to seize some 1,300 sq km of Russian territory. But over the first few weeks the area they were able to holdbecame a narrow wedge.
It is no secret that the zone of our incursion, it should have been wider, Kariakin said. A wide area along the border would have been much more comfortable. Instead, Russian troops surrounded Ukraines occupying forces on three sides. It wasa precarious position and became increasingly difficult to hold.
War analysts consider it highly debatable and uncertain whether the risky cross-border gambit which started in August actually translated to any strategic advantage across the broader war theater:
For Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defense minister of Ukraine, the Kursk operation served its purpose: it diverted elite Russian forces and prevented them from opening up another front, he said.Others question whether the benefits outweighed costs to Ukraines defense effort on the eastern front.
The tragic 'cost' has been tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops lost to an operation which had little to no chance of success in the first place.
"High chance" of peace, Trump said...
Sending masses of troops to invade and occupy Russian territory was essentially a suicide operation to begin with, for which Zelensky has come under intense internal and international criticism. Kiev has had to take more extreme measures to round up men to send to the front lines of late, and there have been reports of a lot of resistance and conscription officers roam the streets.
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